


A sea of colour

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-28 00:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6306964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's 2016. Steve finds Bucky in his apartment one day, staring curiously out of the window at the local pride parade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A sea of colour

Steve hardly saw Bucky anymore. Granted, he didn't really expect to see him much - he was still finding himself, and getting used to being Bucky Barnes again. That would take time.

It wasn’t like Steve would just find him, bring him back to New York, and they would be living together again, like the old days.

Steve breathed deep, and felt his lungs fully expand, with no hitch or pain or coughing fit rising in his chest. No. Definitely not like the old days.

He was walking into his apartment, when a familiar silhouette made him a little breathless. ‘Hey, Buck.’

Bucky looked around at him and nodded, his mouth turning up slightly in a half smile. ‘Hi.’

‘What’re you doing here?’ Bucky, from what Steve could tell, had been looking intently out of the window.

‘Can't I visit my old pal? I remembered something new and wanted to check with you, if that's okay…’ Steve nodded quickly, a smile lighting up his face. Even though he expected things to move slowly, recently Bucky had been remembering more and more details about his years before HYDRA. The only hitch was the fact that the various terrible things Bucky had been subjected to over the years had made him unsure of what was and was not real, and sometimes he would remember something completely fake.

‘I write everything I remember down in a notebook.’ Bucky told him once. ‘I used to feel sorta lost, because I couldn't always be sure everything was real. But now I have you.’ He said, and Steve could've sworn that he felt his chest tighten then, too.  
‘You sure do, Buck.’ Steve smiled into the receiver, and was glad Bucky wasn’t actually there to see the faint blush spread on his cheeks. ‘You sure do.’

‘So what was it you remembered?’ Steve asked.

Bucky was captivated by the view from the window again. Steve could hear the faint sound of a happy crowd.

‘Buck? You okay?’ Steve asked, while walking to stand next to his friend, and look out below with him.

A sea of rainbows met his eyes. Below them a heaving, happy crowd of colour. Below them was the local pride parade. He smiled just at the sight of it. If there was anything that he loved about the future, it was the freedom that everyone had compared to when he was a kid. People could be themselves, and if you asked him, he was sometimes glad of the trip in the ice, just so he could see people being unapologetically who they are.

Then he looked at his friend, Bucky, and the hungry curiosity in his eyes. He looked at him, standing right there in front of him - close enough to touch, and very much alive. A surge of something light up his chest, and he silently thanked whoever brought them together again.

If you asked him, he was so glad he could be around in the days when people were allowed to unapologetically love who they loved.

‘Stevie, we didn't have those in our days, did we?’ Bucky asked, licking his lips. ‘Those types of parades?’

‘I don’t think so, no. Why?’

‘I just thought we did… It's okay.’ Bucky added, as he saw Steve's mouth twitch in concern. ‘It's fine. This happens sometimes. Maybe the colours mixed things up, because I've been watching for a while. I like the colours.’

Steve smiled and relaxed after he saw his friend was fine. He was right. This happened sometimes, things got mixed up, but at least they were together to get things straight again. They could work through it. Together. ‘Me too. It's called a pride parade.’

Bucky nodded, but then asked quietly. ‘What’re they proud of?’

‘They're celebrating being LGBT -’

‘Oh’ Bucky said, nodding. ‘Right.’

‘You know what that stands for?’

‘Steve’ Bucky said, laughing, ‘I do have a slight idea how the modern world works you know.’

Steve nodded, and quickly apologised.

‘Don't apologise.’ Bucky said softly. ‘I only know because Natasha mentioned that she was setting Daniel and James from IT up on a date - and well, she pretty much gave me a quick modern history of things. It was... enlightening. She didn't mention this, though…’

‘It's great, isn't it?’ Steve asked, as they both watched the sea of happy people below.

‘Yeah. I'm glad people can be themselves now.’ Bucky said, gently brushing Steve's thumb with his finger. Steve waited, and a few heavy seconds ticked by until Bucky had the courage to grasp his hand completely. This familiar touch felt like home, and for a second, Steve felt like he could be back in 1930s Brooklyn.

‘Me too, Buck. Hey, maybe we could head down there later and join the parade?’

‘Yeah, I'd like that.’

But he wasn't back in that Brooklyn. He was holding hands with his friend Bucky Barnes as they watched a pride parade go by.

They were together, were they could figure things out, and experience all the things that had changed since the 1930s. Good and bad.

And whatever happened next - as Bucky flashed one of his gentle smiles at him and squeezed his hand - Steve realised that he was very, very glad that it wasn't the old days.

*

Bucky would later write in his notebook this very memory.

This was one to remember, he thought, making sure he printed it in his neatest handwriting.

He remembered having the courage to hold Steve’s hand in the apartment.

He remembered Steve's smile as they held hands in the crowd of smiling people when they joined them, later on.

And he would never forget how his stomach fluttered for the first time in years when Steve kissed him on the cheek, both of them drunkenly happy in the sea of colours.

Yes.

This was a good one.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I wrote this in about an hour so please excuse the probable errors. I hope you like it! :)


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